In November 2007 Advocacy for Animals ran the following piece on the work of Dawn Keller and her organization, Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, which rescues and rehabilitates wildlife at two locations in the Chicago area. Since the original publication of the story, Flint Creek has continued with its excellent work. At the start of the 2009 bird migration season, however, the facilities are facing a serious challenge: over the winter both locations suffered flood damage, and the repairs are costly. We are glad to be able to present this piece again—and, keeping in mind the title of the post, we republish it with an added request that readers who are able to will consider making monetary or in-kind donations of time or materials to help Flint Creek. (Click on the link above or in the “How Can I Help?” section after the article.) The original post may be accessed here.

â€œWow!â€ is the first word that comes to mind when you see Dawn Keller in action. Founder of Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, the largest privately funded wildlife rehabilitation center in the Chicago area, Dawn was named one of the State of Illinoisâ€™ Environmental Heroes in 2006 for her tireless efforts to establish and operate a â€œbird hospitalâ€ on Northerly Island, a peninsula on Lake Michigan near downtown Chicago.

Because it is situated on a major international migration flyway, Chicago is visited by tens of millions of migrating birds every year. Unfortunately, approximately 1,000 of these birds fly directly into the windows of downtown buildings. In the entire country, according to the Birds and Building Forum, such collisions number about one million and are a major factor in the decline of bird populations in the United States. After collision the stunned birds fall to the ground, where they may be stepped on, eaten by predators, or left to die. Timely rescue, however, can save many of these birds. Every morning during the migration season, Flint Creekâ€™s rescue-and-recover teams search downtown Chicago for injured birds and take them to the Northerly Island facility for treatment.

As many as 80 to 100 injured birds are triaged at Northerly Island every day. Although head trauma is the typical injury, spinal, eye, beak, and wing injuries also are common. Anti-inflammatory drugs are used to treat head trauma, and injured wings are wrapped. After treatment and stabilization, the birds are moved to a quiet space at Flint Creekâ€™s main facility in suburban Barrington. Because of the Northerly Island facilityâ€™s close proximity to downtown Chicago, birds can be triaged and treated quickly, and Flint Creekâ€™s survival rates have increased by 9 percent since the center opened in 2004. More than 80 percent of birds treated for head trauma are released back into the wild.

Why do birds migrate?

Most species of birds, because of their high metabolic rate, require a rich, abundant supply of food at frequent intervals. Finding adequate food year-round in any given region is not always possible, however. Birds have thus evolved a highly efficient means of traveling swiftly over long distances with great economy of energy.

Migrating birds follow specific routes, which often are well defined over long distances. The majority, however, travel along broad airways. A single population of migrants may be scattered over such a vast territory that they form a broad front hundreds of miles wide. Migration routes are determined not only by geographic factorsâ€”e.g., river systems, valleys, coastsâ€”and ecological conditions but also by meteorologic conditions. For example, birds change their direction of flight in accordance with the direction and force of the wind. Some routes cross oceans. Small passerine (perching) birds migrate across 1,000 km (620 miles) or more of sea in areas such as the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean Sea, and the North Sea.

The speed of migratory flights depends largely on the species and the type of terrain covered. Birds in migration travel faster than they do otherwise. Rooks (Corvus frugilegus) have been observed migrating at speeds of 51 to 72 km (32 to 45 miles) per hour; starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) at 69 to 78 km (43 to 49 miles) per hour; skylarks (Alauda arvensis) at 35 to 45 km (22 to 28 miles) per hour; and pintails (Anas acuta) at 50 to 82 km (31 to 51 miles) per hour. Although these speeds permit steadily flying migrants to reach their wintering grounds in a relatively short time, the journeys often are interrupted by long stops during which the birds rest and hunt for food.

Most migrations occur at relatively low altitudes. Small passerine birds often fly at less than 60 meters (200 feet). Some birds, however, fly much higher. Migrating passerines, for example, have been observed at altitudes as great as 4,000 meters (14,000 feet). The highest altitude recorded thus far for migrating birds is 9,000 meters (29,500 feet) for geese near Dehra Dun in northwestern India.

Migration takes a heavy toll on migrating populations. In fact, it is estimated that as many as half of all migrants do not survive such factors as predation, bad weather, and collisions to return to their original locations in the spring.

Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation is licensed to treat all mammals (except rabies-carrying bats and skunks) and all birds, including protected birds. Permits to treat mammals are issued by states, but permits for birds, which involve more-stringent rules, are issued by the United States government. Because the federal permits are more difficult to obtain, Flint Creek chooses to focus its attention on birds and only those mammals in serious trauma. Of the 2,100 cases treated each year, 85 percent are birds. Of these, approximately 250 are birds of prey.

What to do?

In the United States there is a growing and critical need for wildlife rehabilitation. Unfortunately, rehabilitation rarely receives the attention it deserves. Training is generally uneven, and there is only one location in the country where veterinarians in training can specialize in the treatment of wildlife. Many of the public facilities take only animals from their funding area or are species specific. Most do not have the permits needed or lack adequate training or resources to handle birds. Where local initiatives, such as Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, do exist, they frequently have insufficient resources to meet the growing need.

One way to improve the situation for migrating birds is to build more bird-friendly architecture. The Birds and Buildings Forum suggests the following guidelines:

1. Donâ€™t use reflective glass, which gives birds a false impression of what is in front of them; i.e., they see sky, clouds, and other buildings in the glass.
2. Donâ€™t position plants directly behind large glass windows.
3. Dim lights at night.

If you happen to find an injured bird, Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation recommends the following:

1. Place the bird in a paper bag with a folded paper towel in the bottom.
2. Place the bag in a quiet, dark location and phone your nearest bird-rescue center for instructions.
3. Do not give the bird water or food.

How Can I Help?

Books We Like

Bird migration was a mystery and a wonder for thousands of years, and in many respects it still is. Many species fly thousands of miles every year; the artic tern annually flies from pole to pole. How do birds navigate during their journeys? How can they fly so far without dying of exhaustion? How did their complex migratory patterns evolve? The Atlas of Bird Migration summarizes current scientific knowledge and research on these and many related topics in a short, informative, and accessible essays by an international team of experts. The main section of the book is a lavishly illustrated presentation of the migratory habits and other basic traits of 100 bird species from around the world, each of which represents a typical or unusual type of migratory behavior. Dazzling photographs, detailed drawings, and colorful and precise computer-generated maps, combined with tables, charts, and sidebars, immediately convey a wealth of information about each species in a visually appealing form. A final directory charts the annual flight paths of more than 500 species.

Comprehensive, authoritative, and visually stunning, this book is a nearly perfect resource on a fascinating topic. It will appeal to anyone who loves birds.

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